SEO in the Web 2.0 Era - Johns Hopkins University Guest Lecture @ “Public Relations in the Age of Digital Influence”
Since I joined the 360° Digital Influence team at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide about 10 months ago I have gained direct access to world-renowned thought leaders in the field of social media and word of mouth marketing, and had numerous opportunities to further my career in the realm of Internet marketing. The latest of such opportunities was presented to me last week by John Bell, Managing Director of the Global 360° Digital Influence practice, who also somehow finds time to teach a graduate level course at Johns Hopkins University (oh…and be the President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association - WOMMA)…crazy right?!?…. Anyways, he offered me the chance to give a guest lecture on search engine optimization at his class “Public Relations in the Age of Digital Influence.” Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. Below you will find the PowerPoint deck I presented as well as a rough outline of what we covered in the class.
A little unsure of the class’s level of knowledge regarding search, the presentation runs the gambit from very basic concepts to more advanced strategies. On the class wiki Bell teed me up as “A search expert coming to share some SEO secrets…” so I wanted to provide information on some advanced tactics, but from my experience in dealing with public relations professionals I knew that even taking some time to explain the differences between search engine optimization and search engine marketing (or paid search), would be helpful distinction to make.
After about an hour lecture the class broke into their respective teams to apply what they learned to their two clients, PBS and Seeds of Peace, who they are developing a digital influence solution for over the 14 week course. All in all being Professor Fleiss for 2 hours was an incredible experience that gave me a new found respect for a teacher’s ability to not only get through to their students, but also ignite and fuel an individual’s passion to learn.
Public Relations in the Age of Digital Influence
Monday’s Class: SEO in the Web 2.0 Era
Keyword Research
a. Search Behavior
b. Head of Tail vs. Long Tail Strategy
c. Measurement: Top Rankings vs Qualified Traffic
II. On-page Optimization
a. Importance of the Title Tag
b. Why Search Engines Love Blogs
c. Choosing the Right Domain Name
d. The All Powerful 301 Redirect
e. Google Webmaster Tools
III. Off-page Optimization
a. Inbound Linking
i. Google PageRank Explained
1. Google PageRank Toolbar
2. Significance of rel=“nofollow”
ii. What is a Quality Inbound Link and How to Find Them
iii. Link Bait
iv. TrustRank
b. Universal Search
i. Content Distribution Strategy
ii. Image Optimization
iii. Video Optimization
IV. Personalized Search & Google’s SearchWiki
V. Search Exercises
a. Keyword Research - Using Google’s Keyword Research Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) come up with 10 head of tail and 10 long tail keywords to target in your SEO campaign
b. Domain Names – Using your list of keywords and a Whois Domain Name Look up tool (http://whois.domaintools.com/) come up with 5 potential domain names for your client’s website.
c. Inbound Link Research – Download Google’s PageRank Toolbar (http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT3/intl/en/index.html). Find 5 different web pages where your client’s website would benefit by obtaining a link from that page.
Have you ever taught a class or just explained a search concept? What has been your experience in communicating this type of information? What methods have been especially successful for you?
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